This grant agreement follows discussions and negotiations under the South Yorkshire Inward Investment Programme (SYIIP), which is supported by EC Objective 1, that aims to attract new investment into Yorkshire and the Humber region.

Sheffield intends to become a major centre for research and development in energy technologies, as plans are underway to create a multi-million pound
Energy Technology Incubator on part of Sheffield Airport Business Park site. The Incubator will provide space for 40 energy technology businesses in what is believed to be Europe's first 'Hydrogen Island'. LIFE-IC is the Sheffield Technology Park based energy technology transfer and financing specialist behind the project.

ITM's Finance Director John Wreford said: 'We are very pleased with the support we have received from our partnership with Yorkshire Forward and the Yorkshire and Humber Region. We have been active supporters of the concept of the Region's LIFE-IC Future Energy Park cluster for some time, and we were one of the first companies to sign up to the LIFE-IC project. We now have a highly skilled team of scientists in Sheffield and we are actively recruiting additional science students with good university degrees to be trained in our laboratories at the Business Park.'

SYIIP European Funding Manager Julia Paddison said: 'This is an important agreement for the Region. ITM was the first 'pure play' fuel cell company in Europe to obtain a public listing last year, and it is now a FTSE AIM 100 stock. It paved the way for other future energy technology companies to raise capital through the AIM market. I hope other UK future energy companies will join with ITM and other existing members of the LIFE-IC cluster to help create
in the Yorkshire and Humberside Region the first EC centre of excellence for future energy technology development. We believe that ITM will be an increasingly important company both for the Region and for the UK generally, and we are very pleased to have been in a position to offer this support'.